When developing new services, service providers are ever mindful of cost. In general, the introduction of new communication services requires a large investment in new infrastructure, not to mention development costs. Given the competitive landscape of communication services, service providers need to be more innovative in seeking new sources of revenue. It is observed that despite the popularity of the Internet and its many applications (even with Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP)), the development of data communications has remained largely independent from voice communications and telephony services. In other words, the advancement in services on the telephony side has not been well integrated on the data network side.
For example, voice mail service has become a staple of modern communication because of its convenience. This convenience stems from the fact that voice mails are recorded and later delivered to the intended party, thereby freeing the intended party from having to be physically present at a telephone station to receive information from a caller. However, it is imperative that the intended party somehow be made aware that a message or messages “waiting” in the voice mail system. This indication is referred to as Message Waiting Indication (MWI). Conventionally, this indication is provided on the target telephone station, in form of a tone when the handset is lifted. Also, certain sophisticated telephone stations may be equipped with an LED (Light Emitting Diode) light that flashes when a new message is waiting in the voice mail system. Apart from these conventional methods, this information is not made readily available to end users. Further, if a user possesses multiple voice mail accounts, the user must manually check each one of the telephone stations to determine whether a voice mail message exists in the respective voice mail systems. This task can be cumbersome if the user has many accounts, and thus, the user is likely to delay in retrieving voice mails. Such delay can pose negative consequences if the message is of great import.
Therefore, there is a need for supporting telephony services, such as MWI, over a data network. There is also a need to deploy a communications service that utilizes existing infrastructure. There is a further need to support a new source of revenue for service providers to bill for the telephony services.